Kite flying is an enjoyable sport which has become popular in a wide variety of modes. Kite flying ranges from a child's first attempt to launch a traditional diamond-shaped kite, to an artist's exhibition of an immense, elaborately decorated kite controlled by a large number of kite lines, to a sport kite competitor's duel with other kite flyers using a highly responsive, streamlined kite.
The key to successful control of a kite's flight lies in the kite flyer's ability to manipulate the kite lines connecting the kite to the flyer. For competitive kite flying, such as sport kiting, the ability to make instantaneous adjustments of the kite lines is crucial to competition. Artistic kites may not be shown to full advantage if their kite lines cannot be adequately controlled to cause the kite to follow an appropriate course. And even the casual kite flyer is more likely to enjoy his pursuit if the kite can be zipped along a path at the flyer's whim.
While it is possible to control kite lines by simply gripping the kite lines in the hands, this may prove uncomfortable and poses the risk that the kite line may simply slip through the fingers, allowing the kite to escape. Some kites, such as those utilizing para-foil wings, may apply hundreds of pounds of pull on the kite line, making it difficult to control the kite line without an aid.
Accordingly, over the years, an assortment of kite line handles and controllers have been developed to aid kite flyers in managing their kite lines. These devices have been as simple as a band of fabric looped about the hand or fingers, and as complicated as multiple spool trigger-controlled kite line reels. Many of these devices have been oriented towards allowing the user to let out a kite line or lines rapidly while the kite is being launched and to reel the kite line or lines in rapidly when the kite is brought in.
Sport kite flyers have generally used simple kite handles because they are easy to hold and move about, and because sport kite flyers usually use kite lines of equal, fixed length (typically 75 to 150 feet) and let out the full kite line while flying the kite, making complicated reeling systems unnecessary. Where the kite lines are of exactly equal length, a sport kite flyer can quickly and accurately manipulate the kite simply by moving the end of a kite line in relation to the ends of the other lines.
While the kite lines are commonly manipulated in the hands, alternatives exist: for example, a kite flyer can control a four line kite by holding two lines in the hands and attaching two of the kite lines at the flyer's hips, such that the flyer can manipulate the kite by moving the hands and rotating the hips.
Several common characteristics of kite lines, called "stretching" and "creeping," interfere with the kite flyer's ability to maintain the kite lines at equal lengths. "Stretching" refers to temporary lengthening of the kite lines while the kite is in flight due to the load of the kite on the line. "Creeping" refers to the line's inability to return to its original length after use. Because both stretching and creeping alter the length of the kite lines, most kite lines today are made of high modulus fibers that demonstrate minimal stretching and creeping, such as Spectra.TM. or Kevlar.TM.. Even such competition-caliber, high quality kite lines exhibit sufficient stretching and/or creeping that adjustment of the length of each line must be possible to ensure proper control of the kite. Simply cutting the kite lines is undesirable because it is time consuming, potentially poses the risk of unravelling the kite line if it is twisted or braided, and may require numerous cuts to accurately adjust the kite, eventually eating up the kite line. Reknotting the kite string to alter the length is time consuming in any instance, and is particularly inefficient where the knots are sleeved. (Lines made of high modulus fibers have poor knot strength, requiring flyers to sleeve the knots where they knot them). A better approach to altering the line length is to adjust the kite line length at the kite line handle or control.
Existing kite line handles frustrate careful kite line control by failing to allow individual movement of each kite line, by incorporating unwieldy spools or reels into the handle, or by failing to provide a simple, accurate means to adjust the effective length of each kite line along a continuum. A need exists for a kite line handle which is inexpensive and easily manipulated, which can be attached easily at a user's hands or at other locations, and which allows a user to quickly and accurately adjust the kite line's effective length to whatever length is required.